Signature Plastics, ALPS, and my wallet

zhasha · 28 Sep 2013, 15:59

Hi there,

I've recently gotten way too much into making the ultimate keyboard for me. The 60% form factor is really attractive and so I've made an HHKB inspired layout that I want to realize.
Two problems though: I tried the new Matias ALPS-compatible switches and loved them, so I bought 400 (hey, spares!) and I'm in love with the idea of doubleshot SA keycaps from SP.
Now I know it's possible to get those kinds of keycaps, but the problem is whether or not my layout can actually be realized (http://www.keyboard-layout-editor.com):

Spoiler:

The problem is that SP doesn't have 2u row 1 (backspace) and 2.5u row 4 (rshift) keycaps in the SA family. Now I'm willing to spend much more money on this than seems reasonable, but $1,000s for tooling is still too much. Am I SOL or can something be done? I want to build a keyboard that basically lasts longer than me.

Muirium · 28 Sep 2013, 16:36

SA on Alps mount you say? I assumed it was a Cherry MX only thing.

SA is awesome, but the tooling is still incomplete. (Come on SP! Gah!) I've an HHKB influenced little 60% of my own, and a set of Round 4 sphericals to play with. But it won't be a perfect match. I got the caps after my design was lasered. In future, perhaps I'll design a layout exactly for the SA that we have.

7bit · 28 Sep 2013, 19:52

Do you've got a definitive list of SA-family key sizes for ALPS?

Nevertheless, you could use row 3 keys for these, as we did in Round 4.

zhasha · 28 Sep 2013, 20:35

Sadly no, but the documentation on their website says they don't make those two, regardless of mount. I'm pretty much just hoping the other keys exist with ALPS mounts. I also considered going row 3 on all the blue keys but frankly I think it'll just kick off some form of super OCD.